Water closets

ABSTRACT

An effluent or waste disposal unit for use with a water closet is disclosed. The water closet can be installed in a location in a building where the provision of a sewer pipe direct connection to a lavatory pan is impracticable or undesirable. The water closet can alternatively form part of a marine toilet. The effluent disposal unit comprises a container for effluent and flushing water, and a comminuter in the container for reducing solid waste material to a fine slurry for transfer through small bore pipe or tubing without blocking the same. The comminution unit is constituted by a rotatable conically narrowing conduit for feeding flushed waste material into a cutter arrangement constituted by blades rotating over fixed blades.

v WATER CLOSETS [76] Inventor: Montague Hiller, Carrington Ave.,,Borehamwood, England 22 Filedi Jan. 12, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 322,971

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of S'er. No. 121,840, March 8,

1971, abandoned.

[] Foreign Application Priority Data Mar. 9, 1970 Great Britain 11258/ Mar. 5, 1971 Canada i .1 106956 Mar. 8, 1971 Japan 46-11896 Mar. 5, 1971 Japan 46-1441 [52] US. Cl 24l/46.02, 24l/46.17, 241/246 [51] Int. Cl. B02c 18/40 [58] Field of Search 241/46 R, 46.02, 46.17, 241/84, A, 199.5, 199.6, 199.7, 244, 245, 246

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,323,650 6/1967 Kilbane, Jr 241/4617 1 1 Jan. 7, 1975 3,361,369 1/1968 Ruble... 24l/46.17 3,589,623 6/1971 Belden 241/4602 Primary Examiner-Granville Y. Custer, Jr. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Waters, Roditi, Schwartz & Nissen 57 ABSTRACT An effluent or waste disposal unit for use with a water closet is disclosed. The water closet can be installed in a location in a building where the provision of a sewer pipe directconnection to a lavatory pan is impracticable or undesirable. The water closet can alternatively form part of a marine toilet. The effluent disposal unit comprises a container for effluent and flushing water. and a comminuter in the container for reducing solid waste material to a fine slurry for transfer through small bore pipe or tubing without blocking the same. The comminution unit is constituted by a rotatable conically narrowing conduit for feeding flushed waste material into a cutter arrangement constituted by blades rotating over fixed blades.

. 8 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEU 7' 3,858,813

SHEET 1 or 5 FIG! I PATENTEUJAN 7197s SHEET u UF 5 WATER CLOSETS Thisapplication is a Continuation-in-Part application of application Ser. No. 121,840 filed on the 8th Mar., 1971 (now abandoned).

This invention relates to effluent or waste disposal units for use with water closets.

The positioning of a water closet is generally determined by the proximity of a sewer or other means for removal of sewage from the water closet. When a water closet is installed in a building, a certain amount of excavation will always be required to connect the water pipe from the water closet to the sewer and this should generally be kept to a minimum if the cost of the instal lation of the water closet is to be kept to a minimum.

This problem frequently becomes acute when it is desired to install an additional water closet in a domestic residence in which the choice oflocations for the water closet is limited irrespective of the problems of connecting the waste pipe to a sewer. This may require the taking up of the floor before the waste pipe can be led out to a sewer.

A further problem arises in connection with marine toilets. It has hitherto been the practice for sewage from marine toilets to be discharged overboard. It has become a general requirement that sewage discharged into fresh water and some in-shore locations should be subjected to chlorination before discharge overboard. However, increasing awareness of the problems of environmental pollution has prompted many authorities to ban discharge into aqueous environments of sewage which has even been chlorinated. In view of this prohibition, it is frequently necessary for the sewage to be stored in a tank and withdrawn therefrom only when the boat is in harbour. For this purpose, costly pumping equipment must be connected to an outlet port from the sump tank for withdrawal of the sewage to a holding tank.

US. Pat. No. 3,589,623 granted to Belden on 29th June, 1971 discloses a marine toilet which includes an electric motor with a shaft that extends outwardly of each end thereby simultaneously driving a waste discharge pump at one end and commode water supply pump at the other end. The marine toilet includes a macerator or grinder assembly serially connected between the commode drainage section and the discharge pump. The macerator is adapted to grind toilet and galley waste into fine particles never more than three sixteenths inch maximum.

It is an object of the invention to provide means whereby the toilet can be installed in a location in a building which will generally be considered inconvenient.

It is a further object of the invention to provide means whereby a marine toilet can be provided which will convert waste material therefrom to a slurry to assist in the withdrawal thereof from the tank associated with the toilet to an on-shore holding tank.

With the aforesaid object in view the present invention provides an effluent or waste disposal unit comprising wall means defining a closable container, means in the wall means for coupling said closable container to an outlet from a lavatory pan or bowl and communicating said closable container with said lavatory pan or bowl, means within said wall means for comminuting effluent or waste materia"'flushed from said lavatory pan or bowl into said closable container into the form of an aqueous dispersion capable of flow through pipe or tubing having a diameter of from about 0.5 inch to about 0.75 inch without undergoing coagulation in said pipe or tubing, outlet means associated with said closable container adapted for connection to said pipe or tubing, and means within said wall means for transfer of said aqueous dispersion to said pipe or tubing when said pipe or tubing is connected to said outlet.

The effluent disposable unit of the present invention is intended to provide a dispersion of finely divided waste material having a particle size sufficiently small to aklow it to oass through small bore tubing. The term small bore is mentioned in British Standard 4182 of 1967 as including piping having a diameter of from 6 to 35 millimetres. The termhas been limited, in practice, in Great Britain, at least, in connection with central heating pipes to mean'pipes or tubing having a diameter of less than 1 inch generally from 0.5 inch to 9 inch (12 to 18 millimetres). By use of the effluent disposal unit of the present invention, it is possible to provide a fine dispersion capable of passage through such pipe or tubing which is to be used in place of conventional waste pipes from water closets which, in Great Britain, at least, generally have a diameter of about 4 inches.

Such pipe or tubing is also to be distinguished from that disclosed'in US. Pat. No. 3.589.623 which has a diameter of about 2 ieches. Since the macerator or grinding unit of US Pat. No. 3.589,623 yields particles of the order of three-sixteenths inch, these particles will still be sufficiently large to coagulate to a considerable extent and block small bore pipe or tubing.

The disposal of such particles will not be a problem with a disposal pipe of the type disclosed in US. Pat.

No. 3,589,623, which pipe has a diameter of about 2 inches, but it will preclude theremoval of the waste material through the aforesaid small-bore pipe or tubing. It has been found in practice that the waste material must be comminuted to a particle size of not ethylene, the small bore pipe or tubing can be simply laid under or over the floor of the building structure without any need for excavation until the pipe or tubing is adjacent a full bore waste pipe from a conventionally installed water closet, or a sewer itself. ,Only a minimum amount of excavation will be necessary if at all since in the former case, it may be possible to joint the small pipe or tubing to a waste pipe before it enters the ground to join a sewer.

When the effluent disposal unit is used as a marine toilet on a boat, the fine dispersion can be transferred to a sump tank on the boat for removal therefrom, when the boat is moored at a jetty, through flexible piping to a holding tank, thus avoiding the need for discharge of the waste material-overboard. The size of pumping equipment required for removal of the waste material from the sump tank will be much reduced over that hitherto proposed owing to 'the finely divided state of the waste material in contrast to the uncomminuted waste material hitherto generally withdrawn from sump tanks on boats. In place of the wide connecting pipes hitherto employed from the sump tanks to the holding tanks, it would be possible to use narrow bore tubing which is readily available at low cost.

V A particularly suitable arrangement for the comminution of such waste material as is normally deposited in a lavatory into a fine dispersion capable of passage through small bore pipe or tubing is provided by an arrangement of serially arranged rotating and fixed cutter blades which, on rotation of the rotating member at a sufficiently rapid speed efficiently and reliably comminute solid waste material to particles having a diameter of less than one thirty-second inch. For most effective operation, it has been found desirable for the waste material flushed from the toilet to impinge directly on the cutting arrangement rather than from an angle, and for this purpose, a conically narrowing passage or duct to the cutter arrangement is preferably provided. Best centering of the waste material on the cutter arrangement is achieved if the cone rotates at the same speed as the cutting arrangement. A vortex effect is then achieved which draws the waste material towards the cutting arrangement.

For a better understanding of the present invention and to show how the same can be carried into effect, reference will .now be made, by way of example only, to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an effluent or waste disposal unit according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a rear elevation of the effluent disposal unit of FIG. 1 installed together with a standard water closet;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the arrangement shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section through FIG. 1 taken at lV-IV;

FIG; 5 is a vertical section through FIG. 4, taken at VV and showing an elevational view of the cutter arrangement shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. '6 is a vertical section through an alternative form of effluent disposal unit according to the invention.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3 of the drawings, denotes a lavatory pan or bowl of the type in common use, being generally made of glazed earthenware, and being surmounted by a flushing unit 11. The term bowl means" is intended to cover herein a pan, a bowl, and any suitable equivalent thereof. One limb of an elbow pipe of an effluent disposal unit (shown on an enlarged scale in FIG. 1) is joined to an outlet 13 from the lavatory pan or bowl 10 by means of a rubber seal 13a, and the other limb of the elbow pipe 12 enters a tank 14 through the roof 15 thereof. Mounted on top of the tank 14 is a pump housing 18 through which comminuted waste material passes from a comminution unit provided with blades to small bore flexible pipe or tubing 17 for disposal therethrough. The term tubing" is considered to designate any such pipe, tube or similar structural element. FIG, 1 shows, in addition, a vent 19 provided on the elbow pipe 12 as a safety measure in case of build-up of pressure within the effluent disposal unit.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5 of the drawings, the housing 14 contains a two part inner housing for a comminution/pump unit to be described in detail hereinafter. The inner housing comprises a central member 19 having a cylindrical passage therethrough. A short side arm 20 projects upwardly through the roof 15 for connection to the elbow pipe 12 through a sleeve member (not shown). The main part of the member 19 extends a short distance beyond the junction of the side arm 20 therewith in a section 21 which is adapted for screwthreaded engagement with a cap 22.

A second major part of the inner housing is constituted by an elongated chamber 23 formed in two parts 23a and 23b (FIG. 4) to allow access to the interior thereof and having at one end a side arm 24 which is adapted for force-engagement with the bottom end of the central member 19.

The top of the elongated chamber 23 and of the cap 22 provide abutments on which rests the roof 15 of the tank 14. The roof 15 is clamped in place by a screwthreaded engagement of the pump housing 18 with a short side arm 24 of the chamber 23 which passes through a corresponding aperture in the roof 15. The arrangement of housing parts permits ready assembly thereof with the comminution/pump unit housed therewithin. The parts of both the inner housing and the tank 14 will generally be made of plastic material.

The comminution/pump unit comprises a rotatable metal cone 25 which is seated in a bearing ring 26 at the wider end thereof. At its narrower end, the cone is coupled to. a cylindrical metal member 27 which carries, internally, two octant blades 28 connected in a central region thereof to a ring 29. The member 27 additionally carries two impeller blades 30 mounted thereon at the opposite end thereof to the blades 28 (see FIG. 5). The exterior of the member 27, in the region of the blades 28, seats in a bearing ring 31.

Both bearing rings can be formed of metal, for example phosphor bronze, or plastic material. The bearing ring 26 is positioned within the interior of the member 19 and the bearing ring 31 is attached to a flange part 32 of the end of the member 19. The conical nature of the part 25 ensures the firm fit thereof in the bearing ring 26.

Mounted on a rod 32 bolted to the end of the chamber 23 and thereby constrained from rotation are two octant blades 33. The blades 33 are of slightly greater diameter than the blades 28 and are provided with circumferential reinforcements 33a made of phosphor bronze which enter into a shallow internal groove 34 within the inner surface of the member 27, while remaining out of contact with the member 27.

The exterior of the member 27 is connected to the inner surface of an annular pulley wheel 35 which is thus supported by the cone 25, to which the member 27 is connected, in the casing member 19, in association with the support of the blades 33 through the rod 32. As can be seen from FIG.'5, the pulley wheel 32 is connected by a belt 36 to a second pulley wheel 37 which is driven through a rod 38 which passes through opposite walls of the chamber 23 to be driven by an electrically operatedv motor (not shown).

In operation, the flushing unit 11 is actuated in the usual manner and material is flushed from the bowl means 10 into the casing member 19. At the same time, the motor is set in operation by actuation of an electric switch (not shown). The motor is of such a type that it can operate the pulley at such a speed that the cone 25 is rotated at about 1500 revolutions per minute. The rotation of the cone 25 produces a vortex action which draws fluid within the casing member 19, the direction of the fluid towards the cutters 28 being assisted by the entry of the fluid through the side arm under gravity. The rapid rotation of the blades 28 with the cone will result in comminution of solid material forced. between the blades 33 into fine particles having a diameter of notgreater than one thirty-second inch.

Any solid material such as is normally deposited in the bowl means will undergo comminution by such a cutting arrangement in which, because of the interaction of fixed and cutter blades, four cuts will be achieved per revolution of the pulley. As it passes through the cutter arrangement, the waste material is acted upon by the impeller blades and directed up into the housing 18 from which it passes to the pipe or tubing 17 without the risk of causing blockage thereof.

A simpler form of effluent or waste disposal unit em bodying the present invention is shown in FIG. 6 in which like reference numerals represent like parts in FIGS. 4 and '5. The effluent disposal unit is intended for vertical operation, that is with downward travel of flushed waste material onto the fixed cutters 33. For this purpose, the casing member 19 of FIG. 4 is replaced by a simple cylindrical member 19 screwthreaded at its upper end for engagement to a sealing ring 19 at its connection to the elbow pipe 12 (FIG. 1). Owing to the rotation of the conical member 25 about a vertical axis, the pulley wheel is now horizontal and the other pulley wheel (not shown) is connected to the electric motor which is positioned therebeneath by the ground, for purposes of stability, through a vertical spindle.

The impeller pump arrangement shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is dispensed with since the slurry produced at the cutter blades is able to flow under gravity through an outlet 39 which is connected, in use, to the small bore pipe or tubing.

In addition to its relative simplicity, the arrangement shown in FIG. 6 has the advantage that it is not neces sary to operate the motor when only fluid is being flushed from the toilet pan or bowl. The flushed water will simply pass between the cutters and out of the out let 39. This is in contrast to the situation in FIG. 4 in which the impellers 30 must be rotated to pump in an upward direction the flushing fluid which enters the casing member 19 and passes through the cutters, whether or not the flushing fluid contains solid matter suspended therein.

However, impeller blades can be employed with the arrangement shown in FIG. 6 to assist in the direction of fluid, whether or not containing comminuted waste material in suspension therein, from the region of the cutter blades towards the outlet 39 and hence away from the other pulley wheel thus reducing the possibility of the apparatus leaking in any way. Such a tendency can also be counteracted by extending the outlet 39 to the region of the'cylindrical member 37 to form a conduit for the fluid which has passed therethrough. Such a conduit is shown in chain-dot lines in the draw ing and is given the reference numeral 40.

A particular advantage of the effluent disposal units shown in FIGS. 4 to 6 of the drawings are their ability to effectively comminute to particles of the required fine size for passage through small bore pipe or tubing of such waste materials as womens disposable sanitary towels and other such disposable" materials as babies napkins (diapers) which are sometimes liable to block the waste pipe from the lavatory pan or bowl of a conventionally installed toilet.

The tank 14 and its roof 15 are advantageously formed of a synthetic plastic material for reasons of lightness and preventing corrosion.

I claim:

1. An effluent disposal unit comprising wall means defining a closable container, means in said wall means for coupling said container to an outlet from lavatory bowl means and communicating said container with said bowl means, means within said wall means for comminuting waste material, flushed from said bowl means into said container, into the form of an aqueous dispersion capable of flow through tubing having a diameter of from about 0.5 to about 0.75 inch without' undergoing coagulation in said tubing, which comminuting means includes a duct which conically narrows from the region of said coupling means to a cutting arrangement and is closed at its smaller end by said cutting arrangement comprising fixed blade means and ro tatable blade means positioned to rotate about an axis coincident with the axis of said fixed blade means, which axis is also coincident with the axis of said duct, the latter being coupled to said rotatable blade means, and means for imparting rapid rotation to said rotatable blade means, said duct being connected to said rotation imparting means, whereby said duct rotates at the same speed as said rotatable blade means, the disposal unit further comprising outlet means associated with said container and adapted for connection to said tubing, and means for transferring the aqueous dispersion to said tubing when the latter is connected to said outlet. 1 2. The disposal unit as defined in claim I, wherein said duct is positioned with its cone axis vertical for direct descent therethrough under gravity of the waste material flushed from said bowl means.

3. The disposal unit as defined in claim 1, further comprising an impeller pump constituted by a plurality of blades mounted on a member rotatably driven by said rotation imparting means.

4. The disposal unit as defined in claim 1, wherein both said blade means include a pair of diametrically opposed blades with the shape of a sector of a circle and a diameter substantially equal to that of said smaller end of the duct, whereby the waste material is subjected to four cuts per revolution of said rotatable blade means.

5. The disposal unit as defined in claim 4!, further comprising an impeller pump constituted by a plurality of blades mounted on a member rotatably driven by said rotation imparting means.

6. A water closet comprising lavatory bowl means having an outlet and an effluent disposal unit comprising wall means defining a closable container located immediately behind said bowl means, means in said wall means for coupling said container to said outlet to communicate said container with said bowl means, means within said wall means for comminuting waste material, flushed from said bowl means into said container, into the form of an aqueous dispersion capable of flow through tubing having a diameter of from about 0.5 to about 0.75 inch without undergoing coagulation in said tubing, which comminuting means includes a duct which conically narrows from the region of said coupling means to a cutting arrangement and is closed at its smaller end by said cutting arrangement comprising fixed blade means and rotatable blade means both including a plurality of blades with the shape of a sector of a circle and a diameter equal to that of said smaller end of the duct, said rotatable blade means being positioned to rotate about an axis coincident with the axis 7. The water closet as defined in claim 6, wherein said axis of the duct is vertical, whereby the waste material flushed from said bowl means undergoes direct descent thereto under gravity. v

8. The water closet as defined in claim 6, wherein said disposal unit further includes an impeller pump constituted by a plurality of blades mounted on a member rotatably driven by said rotation imparting means. 

1. An effluent disposal unit comprising wall means defining a closable container, means in said wall means for coupling said container to an outlet from lavatory bowl means and communicating said container with said bowl means, means within said wall means for comminuting waste material, flushed from said bowl means into said container, into the form of an aqueous dispersion capable of flow through tubing having a diameter of from about 0.5 to about 0.75 inch without undergoing coagulation in said tubing, which comminuting means includes a duct which conically narrows from the region of said coupling means to a cutting arrangement and is closed at its smaller end by said cutting arrangement comprising fixed blade means and rotatable blade means positioned to rotate about an axis coincident with the axis of said fixed blade means, which axis is also coincident with the axis of said duct, the latter being coupled to said rotatable blade means, and means for imparting rapid rotation to said rotatable blade means, said duct being connected to said rotation imparting means, whereby said duct rotatEs at the same speed as said rotatable blade means, the disposal unit further comprising outlet means associated with said container and adapted for connection to said tubing, and means for transferring the aqueous dispersion to said tubing when the latter is connected to said outlet.
 2. The disposal unit as defined in claim 1, wherein said duct is positioned with its cone axis vertical for direct descent therethrough under gravity of the waste material flushed from said bowl means.
 3. The disposal unit as defined in claim 1, further comprising an impeller pump constituted by a plurality of blades mounted on a member rotatably driven by said rotation imparting means.
 4. The disposal unit as defined in claim 1, wherein both said blade means include a pair of diametrically opposed blades with the shape of a sector of a circle and a diameter substantially equal to that of said smaller end of the duct, whereby the waste material is subjected to four cuts per revolution of said rotatable blade means.
 5. The disposal unit as defined in claim 4, further comprising an impeller pump constituted by a plurality of blades mounted on a member rotatably driven by said rotation imparting means.
 6. A water closet comprising lavatory bowl means having an outlet and an effluent disposal unit comprising wall means defining a closable container located immediately behind said bowl means, means in said wall means for coupling said container to said outlet to communicate said container with said bowl means, means within said wall means for comminuting waste material, flushed from said bowl means into said container, into the form of an aqueous dispersion capable of flow through tubing having a diameter of from about 0.5 to about 0.75 inch without undergoing coagulation in said tubing, which comminuting means includes a duct which conically narrows from the region of said coupling means to a cutting arrangement and is closed at its smaller end by said cutting arrangement comprising fixed blade means and rotatable blade means both including a plurality of blades with the shape of a sector of a circle and a diameter equal to that of said smaller end of the duct, said rotatable blade means being positioned to rotate about an axis coincident with the axis of said fixed blade means, which axis is also coincident with the axis of said duct, and means for simultaneously imparting rapid rotation to both said rotatable blade means and said duct, said disposal unit further including outlet means associated with said container and adapted for connection to said tubing, and means for transferring the aqueous dispersion to said tubing when the latter is connected to said outlet.
 7. The water closet as defined in claim 6, wherein said axis of the duct is vertical, whereby the waste material flushed from said bowl means undergoes direct descent thereto under gravity.
 8. The water closet as defined in claim 6, wherein said disposal unit further includes an impeller pump constituted by a plurality of blades mounted on a member rotatably driven by said rotation imparting means. 